Those reading this letter may not know what a Freedom of Information request is.

In 1997, the Labour Party made a commitment to introduce the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to give the public “right of access” to information held by public authorities.

Citizens are able to ask a Freedom of Information request and many do so, far more times than me.

Indeed, one Colchester resident has submitted more than 40 Freedom of Information requests compared to my eight.

Councillor Tim Young’s comments accusing me of wasting officers’ time and mounting up a bill of “thousands of pounds” is truly staggering and unsubstantiated.

Colchester Council does not record the cost of responding to Freedom of Information requests.

So how did Mr Young calculate the expense at which he claims?

Continuing, Mr Young goes on to suggest some of the things I asked about are already publicly available.

If this is the case, it surely wouldn’t have taken more than a few minutes to copy and paste the response.

The big question is why wasn’t all the information requested already publicly available?

Perhaps the Liberal Democrat/Labour run council wants to hide figures and information that don’t necessarily work with their policies?

The duty of a local councillor is to serve the residents of the borough, to engage with local issues and resolve the problems residents are not able to do for themselves.

One day, I may be given the honour of standing in the town as a borough councillor, to continue some of the great work already begun, and to help create a new Colchester we can all once again be proud of.

My message to Mr Young is simple. Engage with the opposing views of your potential electorate and, yes, give me a call anytime and I would be happy to discuss opinions with you in a sensible manner.

We are family, after all.

Jeremy Hagon
Lexden

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...and here is  Mr Young's response to critics

I SUPPORT the Freedom of Information Act.

It was one of the many fine achievements of the Labour Government between 1997 and 2010 and, from memory, I believe the Conservative Party was against its introduction.

It is there to give us all access to information held by public authorities and agencies but the intention never was to use it indiscriminately when that information is readily available by other means.

A Freedom of Information request should surely be the instrument of last resort if somebody is either not satisfied with an answer received or suspects a public body may be trying to hide something.

Sadly, Jeremy Hagon and others seem to want to use requests as sticks to beat Colchester Council with.

It is clear he’s not our biggest fan.

The point I want to make however is there is no need to obtain the type of info he requests via Freedom of Information.

Colchester Council is a truly open and transparent authority which will willingly provide information to residents when contacted by phone, email, letters, social media or its website.

If residents contact the council using these methods they will receive a timely and informed response a lot quicker than using the FoI route.

If the council receives an FoI request it has to go through a process to comply with the legislation.

It also has a lengthy period in which to respond (28 days I think).

The response may well have to be checked over by a member of the senior management team and, certainly, by the council’s legal department - a time-consuming and expensive business especially if the query could have been dealt with using the other methods.

The Gazette has used FoI requests in the past and, no doubt, will do so again but it does so sparingly and appropriately - a good example that Mr Hagon and others should follow.

Mr Hagon has thrown his lot in with the Tories and has been announced as a candidate in next year’s borough council elections, so he has closer access to Tory councillors and MPs that others don’t have.

They could help him access the info he desires without resorting to FoI requests that merely divert precious council time and resources from other, often more pressing, matters.

Jeremy is a good first name to have; it’s just a shame Mr Hagon (the son of my wife’s cousin) doesn’t share the leader of the Labour Party’s values and principles to create a fairer and more equal society.

Colchester Council is trying to do its bit to achieve those aims.

Tim Young Colchester Council deputy leader
Leader of the Labour group
Mascot Square, Colchester

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I was appalled when I saw the story in Thursday’s Gazette in which Labour councillor Tim Young attacked resident Jeremy Hagon for making seven Freedom of Information requests since the spring of this year.

Whether or not Mr Hagon is a future political candidate, he is also a resident and he has every right to request information from the council under the Freedom of Information Act, whether he wants that information for political purposes or any other reasons of his own.

It is particularly galling Mr Young has chosen to single out Mr Hagon when there are other residents who have put in far more FoI requests.

Mr Young’s actions are clearly politically motivated against a resident who hopes to also become a councillor to serve this town one day.

Are senior councillors to decide what constitutes a waste of time when residents seek information about the council?

I suggest Mr Young owes Mr Hagon a public apology.

Simon Crow
Grosvenor Place, Colchester

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Freedom of Information requests are a way of making sure that local councils, government bodies and the Government are doing what they should be doing.

However, they are not something that should be used willy nilly.

Before making a request you should find out if the information you want is already available online even if it means doing some work yourself to collate the results to how you want them.

Sometimes you can find out what you want just by picking up the phone and asking someone.

I use Freedom of Information requests only when I’ve exhausted all other ways of finding out what I want to know.

I would hate to see a good example of public accountability become chargeable or worse stopped because people was abusing the process.

Johan Mahoney-Berg
De Grey Road, Colchester